Twitter Banned more than 200 Russian Propaganda Accounts

Twitter said it shared a roundup of advertisements by RT, a TV network funded by the Russian government that was formerly known as Russia Today. The men said the hearings will be held "with representatives from tech companies in order to better understand how Russian Federation used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election".

Facebook has said it will give congressional investigators details of the Russian-purchased ads, a decision that comes as special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional panels probe the Kremlin's role in last year's presidential election.

Twitter said it had identified and removed 22 accounts directly linked to about 500 fake Facebook pages or profiles tied to Russian Federation and that it unearthed an additional 179 accounts that were otherwise related.

Twitter said Russian media outlet RT, a state-funded broadcaster that is close to the Kremlin, spent $274,100 on Twitter advertisements and promoted 1,823 tweets aimed at the US market during the election year. The accounts had already been or were immediately suspended after being identified, Twitter said.

"This is an ongoing process and we will continue to collaborate with investigators".

After Twitter'smeeting with Congressional officials on Thursday, Sen. "These campaigns were directed at followers of mainstream media and primarily promoted RT Tweets regarding news stories", Twitter said in a blog post.

Twitter added that it unearthed an additional 179 "related or linked accounts" with ties to the fake Russian Facebookaccounts.

And the paper says "there is evidence that Twitter may have been used even more extensively than Facebook in the Russian influence campaign a year ago".

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have faced increased scrutiny around how they handle bots and the potential that their platforms were used to sow disruption during 2016.

"Today, Twitter vice-president for public policy, Colin Crowell, met with staff from Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to discuss these issues".

Democratic Senator Mark WarnercalledTwitter's presentation "deeply disappointing" and "inadequate". Moscow denies any such activity, and Trump has denied any collusion.